The 1871 Atlantic hurricane season lasted from mid-summer to late-fall. Records show that 1871 featured two tropical storms, four hurricanes and two major hurricanes (Category 3+). However, in the absence of modern satellite and other remote-sensing technologies, only storms that affected populated land areas or encountered ships at sea were recorded, so the actual total could be higher. In the absence of modern satellite and other remote-sensing technologies, only storms that affected populated land areas or encountered ships at sea were recorded, so the actual total could be higher. According to a study in 2004, an undercount bias of zero to six tropical cyclones per year between 1851 and 1885 and zero to four per year between 1886 and 1910 is possible.[1] A later study in 2008 estimated that eight or more storms may have been missed prior to 1878.[2]

Of the known 1871 cyclones, both Hurricane Five and Hurricane Eight were first documented in 1995 by José Fernández-Partagás and Henry Díaz, who also proposed large changes to the known tracks of Hurricane Three and of Hurricane Four.[3] Further analysis, in 2008, extended the duration of both Hurricane Three and Hurricane Seven, by one day each.[4] A reanalysis published in 2014 found fifteen named storms, twelve of which became hurricanes; four attained major hurricane status. However, these results have yet to be officially accepted into HURDAT.[5]

At 00:00 UTC on June 1, a tropical storm formed about 60 miles (95 km) east-southeast of Key West, Florida. For the next twelve hours, the system moved westward over the Straits of Florida between Cuba and the lower Florida Keys. Entering the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, the cyclone turned to the northwest and strengthened. While located 165 miles (265 km) west-northwest of the Dry Tortugas, it attained peak winds of 60 mph (95 km/h) early on June 2. Afterward, the system gradually turned to the west-northwest and maintained its intensity. As it neared the Texas coast, its course shifted to the northwest. At 07:00 UTC on June 7, the storm made landfall over San Luis Pass, 50 miles (80 km) south-southeast of Houston, at peak intensity. After landfall, the storm curved northward over East Texas, and dissipated over eastern Oklahoma late on June 5.[6] A preliminary reanalysis in 2014 upgraded the cyclone to a Category 1 hurricane at landfall in Texas.[5]

Galveston in 1871

A weather station in Galveston recorded peak winds of 39 mph (63 km/h) and a total of 6 inches (152 mm) of rain during the passage of the storm,[7] of which 3.95 in (100 mm) fell in a fourteen-minute time span on June 4.[8] Another source indicated 15.57 in (395 mm) of rainfall took place, including a twenty-four-hour record of 8.55 in (217 mm) on June 4.[9] Additionally, a barometer in the area sampled a minimum peripheral pressure of 29.51 inHg (999 mb). Storm surge flooded onto and eroded Galveston Island, causing washouts of railroad beds and structures.[3] One vessel, the steamshipAlabama, beached at Galveston, while another, the Virginia Dare, grounded on an offshore sandbar there. Four drownings occurred at Galveston. Gale-force winds also affected Port Aransas; very high tides occurred there and at Indianola, flooding low ground at the latter place.[9] Extremely heavy rains associated with this cyclone also caused flooding in New Orleans, which was reportedly “submerged.”[10]The New York Times on June 6 reported that floodwaters covered 6 square miles (16 km2), five hundred blocks in all.[3]

At 00:00 UTC on June 8, the second tropical storm of the season developed 155 miles (250 km) north-northwest of Progreso, Yucatán—three days after Tropical Storm One dissipated. Taking a steady course to the northwest, the cyclone closely followed its predecessor, threatening Southeast Texas yet again. Early on June 9, the system peaked at 60 mph (95 km/h) and turned north-northwestward. At 17:00 UTC, the cyclone made landfall near present-day Jamaica Beach, 15 miles (25 km) west-southwest of Galveston, at peak intensity. After landfall, the system headed northward over the western part of Galveston Bay. Late on June 10, the cyclone dissipated over East Texas, just south of the Texas–Oklahoma border.[6]

As it affected Galveston, the storm destroyed a church and many houses. Storm surge occurred on the island for the second time in a week, as floodwaters engulfed the eastern section of Galveston Island. Several ships wrecked as well, and some sailing ships were deemed lost at sea. A cotton steamship, the Mollie Hambleton, sank while at anchor. One person died at Refugio, when winds unroofed a church. Storm surge-related flooding was minimal at Indianola.[9] Strong gales affected coastal Louisiana, and neared hurricane intensity at Lake Charles, downing fruit trees. Torrential rain damaged corn and cotton crops, and numerous cattle drowned. A tornado struck Chatawa, Mississippi, destroying a schoolhouse and trees.[10]

A reanalysis in 2014 tentatively determined that this storm and the preceding system were a single hurricane.[5]

Early on August 14, a report from the ship Tybee of hurricane-force winds to the east of The Bahamas signaled the presence of a well-formed system. At 00:00 UTC on August 14, the third tropical cyclone of the season was noted, 210 miles (340 km) northeast of San Salvador Island, with 90-mph (150-km/h) winds. Tracking generally westward, the hurricane gradually strengthened. At 12:00 UTC on August 15, the cyclone attained peak winds of 115 mph (185 km/h)—equivalent to Category 3 status on the modern Saffir–Simpson scale, which it maintained until landfall in Florida. Several hours later, the hurricane made landfall over the northern Abaco Islands, and continued westward toward the Gulf Stream. Early on August 16, a barque, the Bridgeport, measured a pressure of 28.1 inHg (952 mb) in the storm’s eye.[3] As it neared eastern Florida, the storm curved slightly west-northwestward, before making landfall north of Hobe Sound at 02:00 UTC on August 17.[6]

Over the next few days, the cyclone parabolically turned to the northeast, re-entering the Atlantic Ocean near Darien, Georgia, on August 18. While executing a clockwise loop off the Southeastern United States, the system maintained winds just below hurricane intensity. On August 22, the system ended its loop and headed westward, toward the Georgia coast. Final landfall occurred near Brunswick at 00:00 UTC on August 23. At the time, the cyclone still contained maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h). The system decayed as it moved inland, and dissipation took place eighteen hours later.[6]

Despite crossing The Bahamas at peak strength, damage in the archipelago, if any, is unknown. The hurricane was of great extent as it struck Florida, with hurricane-force winds occurring at New Smyrna—115 miles (185 km) from the eye. The local U.S. Army Signal Corps observer judged the storm to be the worst since October 23, 1865. In New Smyrna, the storm snapped or otherwise damaged oak and citrus trees. At Enterprise, several homes were unroofed as well. Winds destroyed another home at Ocala.[11] Numerous ships were tossed ashore,[12] leaving the beaches “strewn with wrecks.”[11] Impacts to Georgia, if any, are unknown. Winds reached 60 mph (97 km/h) in Savannah, which registered a pressure of 29.55 inHg (1,001 mb).[11]

On August 17, the fourth tropical storm of the season developed 550 miles (885 km) west-southwest of the Cape Verde islands. The system progressed on a west-northwest track and steadily intensified, becoming a major hurricane at 00:00 UTC on August 21. Bearing peak winds of 115 mph (185 km/h), the hurricane passed over Antigua, St. Eustatius, Saint Kitts, and St. Thomas. Continuing northwestward, it passed 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Fajardo, Puerto Rico.[13] The hurricane then weakened to a Category 2 hurricane, maintaining this strength while making further landfalls in The Bahamas. At 05:00 UTC on August 25, the storm struck near present-day Vero Beach, Florida, with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h).[14] After crossing Central Florida, it entered the Gulf of Mexico and made a final landfall on Taylor County, Florida, as a tropical storm. The storm then moved north and east over land, weakening into a tropical depression, before strengthening back into a tropical storm after re-emerging into the Atlantic off South Carolina. At 12:00 UTC on August 30, the cyclone reattained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h). The storm was last sighted 90 miles (145 km) east of Cape Cod.[6]

The hurricane caused numerous shipwrecks, including three ships lost at Puerto Rico,[13] and left 27 people dead at St. Thomas.[15]

The only storm of the year not to make landfall, Hurricane Five was first observed as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h) north of Puerto Rico on August 30. Hurricane Five maintained this intensity until it was last observed south of Nova Scotia. It is possible that the storm made landfall on Nova Scotia and it is also possible that the storm formed before August 30.

A hurricane formed near the geographic center of the Gulf of Mexico on September 5. At 14:00 UTC the next day, it made landfall near Cedar Key, Florida, as a Category 1 hurricane.[6] It brought heavy rainfall to Florida and Georgia before entering the Atlantic off the east coast of Georgia.[16] Still continuing to the northeast, it was last sighted south of Cape Hatteras.[6]

A tropical storm was first sighted in the Bay of Campeche on September 30. It continued moving in a northeast direction, paralleling the Texas coast and strengthening to a Category 1 hurricane while doing so. Early on October 4, the hurricane passed south of the Mississippi River Delta. At 16:00 UTC on October 5, it finally made landfall on Taylor County, Florida, as a strong tropical storm with winds of 70 mph (110 km/h). After re-entering the Atlantic Ocean, the storm was last sighted east of Cape Hatteras.[6] At least three people were killed at Galveston and several ships were wrecked or foundered, some with the loss of all hands.[9]

A hurricane was first observed northeast of the British Virgin Islands on the morning of October 10. At this point it was already a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h). Its intensity remained steady at that level as it traveled first west, then veered north before travelling parallel to the US coast. The hurricane dissipated shortly after making landfall at Nova Scotia on October 13.[6]

1.
Tropical cyclone
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Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon /taɪˈfuːn/, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone. A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. They derive their energy through the evaporation of water from the ocean surface and this energy source differs from that of mid-latitude cyclonic storms, such as noreasters and European windstorms, which are fueled primarily by horizontal temperature contrasts. The strong rotating winds of a tropical cyclone are a result of the conservation of momentum imparted by the Earths rotation as air flows inwards toward the axis of rotation. As a result, they form within 5° of the equator. Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 2,000 km in diameter, Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively over tropical seas. Cyclone refers to their nature, with wind blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite direction of circulation is due to the Coriolis effect, in addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge, and tornadoes. They typically weaken rapidly over land where they are cut off from their energy source. For this reason, coastal regions are vulnerable to damage from a tropical cyclone as compared to inland regions. Heavy rains, however, can cause significant flooding inland, though their effects on human populations are often devastating, tropical cyclones can relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes. Tropical cyclones are areas of low pressure in the troposphere. On Earth, the pressures recorded at the centers of tropical cyclones are among the lowest ever observed at sea level, the environment near the center of tropical cyclones is warmer than the surroundings at all altitudes, thus they are characterized as warm core systems. The near-surface wind field of a cyclone is characterized by air rotating rapidly around a center of circulation while also flowing radially inwards. At the outer edge of the storm, air may be nearly calm, however, due to the Earths rotation, as air flows radially inward, it begins to rotate cyclonically in order to conserve angular momentum. At an inner radius, air begins to ascend to the top of the troposphere and this radius is typically coincident with the inner radius of the eyewall, and has the strongest near-surface winds of the storm, consequently, it is known as the radius of maximum winds. Once aloft, air flows away from the center, producing a shield of cirrus clouds

2.
Key West, Florida
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Key West is an island city in Florida and the county seat of Monroe County. The city boundaries include the island of Key West and several islands, as well as the section of Stock Island north of U. S. Route 1. Sigsbee Park—originally known as Dredgers Key—and Fleming Key, both located to the north, and Sunset Key located to the west are all included in the city boundaries, both Fleming Key and Sigsbee Park are part of Naval Air Station Key West and are inaccessible to the general public. Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States and the terminus of U. S. Route 1, State Road A1A, the East Coast Greenway and, before 1935. Key West is 129 miles southwest of Miami by air, about 160 miles by car, Cuba, at its closest point, is 94 miles south. Key West is a destination for many passenger cruise ships. The Key West International Airport provides airline service, the central business district is located along Duval Street and includes much of the northwestern corner of the island. The official city motto is One Human Family, in Pre-Colonial times Key West was inhabited by the Calusa people. The first European to visit was Juan Ponce de León in 1521, as Florida became a Spanish territory, a fishing and salvage village with a small garrison was established here. Cayo Hueso is the original Spanish name for the island of Key West, spanish-speaking people today also use the term when referring to Key West. It is said that the island was littered with the remains of native inhabitants. This island was the westernmost Key with a supply of water. In 1763, when Great Britain took control of Florida, the community of Spaniards, Florida returned to Spanish control 20 years later, but there was no official resettlement of the island. Informally the island was used by fishermen from Cuba and from the British, while claimed by Spain, no nation exercised de facto control over the community there for some time. In 1815, the Spanish governor of Cuba in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas, businessman John W. Simonton, during a meeting in a Havana café on January 19,1822, for the equivalent of $2,000 in pesos in 1821. Geddes tried in vain to secure his rights to the property before Simonton who, Simonton had wide-ranging business interests in Mobile, Alabama. He bought the island because a friend, John Whitehead, had drawn his attention to the opportunities presented by the strategic location. John Whitehead had been stranded in Key West after a shipwreck in 1819, on March 25,1822, Lt. Commander, Matthew C

3.
Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital

4.
Florida Keys
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The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost portion of the continental United States. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, at the nearest point, the southern part of Key West is just 90 miles from Cuba. The Florida Keys are between about 23.5 and 25.5 degrees North latitude, the climate of the Keys is defined as tropical savanna according to Köppen climate classification. More than 95 percent of the area lies in Monroe County. The total land area is 137.3 square miles, the US Census population estimate for 2014 is 77,136. The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County, the county consists of a section on the mainland which is almost entirely in Everglades National Park, and the Keys islands from Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas. The Keys were originally inhabited by Calusa and Tequesta Native Americans, de León named the islands Los Martires, as they looked like suffering men from a distance. Key is derived from the Spanish word cayo, meaning small island, for many years, Key West was the largest town in Florida, and it grew prosperous on wrecking revenues. The isolated outpost was located for trade with Cuba and the Bahamas. Improved navigation led to shipwrecks, and Key West went into a decline in the late nineteenth century. The Keys were long accessible only by water and this changed with the completion of Henry Flaglers Overseas Railway in the early 1910s. Flagler, a developer of Floridas Atlantic coast, extended his Florida East Coast Railway down to Key West with an ambitious series of over-sea railroad trestles. Three hurricanes disrupted the project in 1906,1909, and 1910, one of the worst hurricanes to strike the U. S. made landfall near Islamorada in the Upper Keys on Labor Day, Monday, September 2. Winds were estimated to have gusted to 200 mph, raising a storm more than 17.5 feet above sea level that washed over the islands. More than 400 people were killed, though some place the number of deaths at more than 600. The Labor Day Hurricane is one of three hurricanes to make landfall at Category 5 strength on the U. S. coast since reliable weather records began. The other storms were Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Andrew, in 1935, new bridges were under construction to connect a highway through the entire Keys. Hundreds of World War I veterans working on the roadway as part of a government relief program were housed in non-reinforced buildings in three camps in the Upper Keys

5.
Dry Tortugas
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Still further west is the Tortugas Bank, which is submerged. The first Europeans to discover the islands were the Spanish in 1513 and they are an unincorporated area of Monroe County, Florida, and belong to the Lower Keys Census County Division. With their surrounding waters, they constitute the Dry Tortugas National Park, the keys are low and irregular. Some keys have thin growths of mangroves and various other vegetation, in general, they rise abruptly from relatively deep water. They are continually changing in size and shape, the Tortugas Atoll has had up to 11 islets during the past two centuries. Some of the islands have disappeared and reappeared multiple times as a result of hurricane impact. The total area of the islets, some of which are more than sand bars just above the water mark, is about 580,000 square meters. Their area changes over time as wind and waves reshape them, there are seven islets, which are from West to East,1 lb Loggerhead Key,250 by 1,200 m in size, with an area of 260,000 m2 is the largest. This island has the highest elevation in the Dry Tortugas, at 10 feet, the Dry Tortugas lighthouse,46 m 46 meters high, is on this island. Garden Key, with Fort Jefferson and the inactive Garden Key lighthouse and it is 4 km east of Loggerhead Key. Garden Key is the second largest island in the chain, at 400 by 500 m in size, the original size, before construction of Fort Jefferson, has been estimated at 30,350 to 35,610 m2. Bush Key, formerly named Hog Island because of the hogs that were raised there to provide meat for the prisoners at Fort Jefferson. At times, Bush Key is connected to Garden Key by a sand bar, the island is the third largest,150 by 900 m, area 120,000 m2, less than 1 m high. Bush Key is the site of a large tern rookery and it is closed to visitors from April to September to protect nesting sooty terns and brown noddys. Long Key,59 m south of the end of Bush Key,50 by 200 m in size. Hospital Key, so called because a hospital for the inmates of Fort Jefferson had been there in the 1870s. The island was formerly called Middle Key or Sand Key and it lies 2.5 km northeast of Garden Key and Bush Key,70 m, area 4,000 m2, and is 1 m high at its highest point. The Key was the site of numerous Union solders graves during the Civil War, iowa Rock, halfway between Garden Key and Hospital Key, is another site of a navigational light built in shallow water

6.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south

7.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas

8.
Oklahoma
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Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central United States. Oklahoma is the 20th-most extensive and the 28th-most populous of the 50 United States, the states name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning red people. The name was settled upon statehood, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were merged, on November 16,1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state to enter the union. Its residents are known as Oklahomans, or informally Okies, and its capital, a major producer of natural gas, oil, and agricultural products, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. In 2007, it had one of the economies in the United States, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahomas primary economic anchors, with nearly two-thirds of Oklahomans living within their metropolitan statistical areas. With small mountain ranges, prairie, mesas, and eastern forests, most of Oklahoma lies in the Great Plains, Cross Timbers, interior Highlands—a region especially prone to severe weather. The name Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw phrase okla humma, literally meaning red people, equivalent to the English word Indian, okla humma was a phrase in the Choctaw language used to describe Native American people as a whole. Oklahoma later became the de facto name for Oklahoma Territory, and it was approved in 1890. Oklahoma is the 20th-largest state in the United States, covering an area of 69,898 square miles and it is one of six states on the Frontier Strip and lies partly in the Great Plains near the geographical center of the 48 contiguous states. It is bounded on the east by Arkansas and Missouri, on the north by Kansas, on the northwest by Colorado, on the far west by New Mexico, much of its border with Texas lies along the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, a failed continental rift. The geologic figure defines the placement of the Red River, the Oklahoma panhandles Western edge is out of alignment with its Texas border. The Oklahoma/New Mexico border is actually 2.1 to 2.2 miles east of the Texas line, the border between Texas and New Mexico was set first as a result of a survey by Spain in 1819. It was then set along the 103rd Meridian, in the 1890s, when Oklahoma was formally surveyed using more accurate surveying equipment and techniques, it was discovered the Texas line was not set along the 103rd Meridian. Surveying techniques were not as accurate in 1819, and the actual 103rd Meridian was approximately 2.2 miles to the east and it was much easier to leave the mistake than for Texas to cede land to New Mexico to correct the surveying error. The placement of the Oklahoma/New Mexico border represents the true 103rd Meridian, cimarron County in Oklahomas panhandle is the only county in the United States that touches four other states, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Kansas. Its highest and lowest points follow this trend, with its highest peak, Black Mesa, at 4,973 feet above sea level, situated near its far northwest corner in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The states lowest point is on the Little River near its far southeastern boundary near the town of Idabel, Oklahoma, which dips to 289 feet above sea level

9.
Weather station
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The measurements taken include temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation amounts. Wind measurements are taken with as few other obstructions as possible, while temperature and humidity measurements are kept free from direct solar radiation, manual observations are taken at least once daily, while automated measurements are taken at least once an hour. Weather conditions out at sea are taken by ships and buoys, which slightly different meteorological quantities such as sea surface temperature, wave height. Drifting weather buoys outnumber their moored versions by a significant amount, the instrumentation may be specialized to allow for periodic recording otherwise significant manual labour is required for record keeping. Automatic transmission of data, in a such as METAR, is also desirable as many weather stations data is required for weather forecasting. A personal weather station is a set of measuring instruments operated by a private individual, club, association. The quality, number of instruments, and placement of personal weather stations can vary widely, making the determination of which stations collect accurate, meaningful, personal weather stations also typically involve a digital console that provides readouts of the data being collected. These consoles may interface to a computer where data can be displayed, stored. Personal weather stations may be operated solely for the enjoyment and education of the owner, however some owners share their results with others and they do this by either by manually compiling data and distributing it, distributing data over the internet internet, or sharing data via amateur radio. The Citizen Weather Observer Program is a service which facilitates the sharing of information from weather stations. This data is submitted through use of software, a personal computer, each weather station submitting data to CWOP will also have an individual Web page that depicts the data submitted by that station. The Weather Underground Internet site is popular destination for the submittal. As with CWOP, each station submitting data to The Weather Underground has a unique Web page displaying their submitted data, the UK Met Offices Weather Observations Website also allows such data to be shared and displayed. A weather ship was a ship stationed in the ocean as a platform for surface and it was also meant to aid in search and rescue operations and to support transatlantic flights. The establishment of weather ships proved to be so useful during World War II that the International Civil Aviation Organization established a network of 13 weather ships in 1948. Of the 12 left in operation in 1996, nine were located in the northern Atlantic ocean while three were located in the northern Pacific ocean, the agreement of the weather ships ended in 1990. Weather ship observations proved to be helpful in wind and wave studies, the last weather ship was MS Polarfront, known as weather station M at 66°N, 02°E, run by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. MS Polarfront was removed from service January 1,2010, since the 1960s this role has been largely superseded by satellites, long range aircraft and weather buoys

10.
Rain
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Rain is liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then precipitated—that is, become heavy enough to fall under gravity. Rain is a component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides suitable conditions for many types of ecosystems, as well as water for power plants. The major cause of production is moisture moving along three-dimensional zones of temperature and moisture contrasts known as weather fronts. If enough moisture and upward motion is present, precipitation falls from convective clouds such as cumulonimbus which can organize into narrow rainbands. On the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by downslope flow which causes heating and drying of the air mass, the movement of the monsoon trough, or intertropical convergence zone, brings rainy seasons to savannah climes. The urban heat island effect leads to increased rainfall, both in amounts and intensity, downwind of cities, global warming is also causing changes in the precipitation pattern globally, including wetter conditions across eastern North America and drier conditions in the tropics. The globally averaged annual precipitation over land is 715 mm, climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Rainfall is measured using rain gauges, rainfall amounts can be estimated by weather radar. Rain is also known or suspected on other planets, where it may be composed of methane, neon, sulfuric acid, or even iron rather than water. Air contains water vapor, and the amount of water in a mass of dry air. The amount of moisture in air is commonly reported as relative humidity. How much water vapor a parcel of air can contain before it becomes saturated, warmer air can contain more water vapor than cooler air before becoming saturated. Therefore, one way to saturate a parcel of air is to cool it, the dew point is the temperature to which a parcel must be cooled in order to become saturated. There are four mechanisms for cooling the air to its dew point, adiabatic cooling, conductive cooling, radiational cooling. Adiabatic cooling occurs when air rises and expands, the air can rise due to convection, large-scale atmospheric motions, or a physical barrier such as a mountain. Conductive cooling occurs when the air comes into contact with a surface, usually by being blown from one surface to another. Radiational cooling occurs due to the emission of infrared radiation, either by the air or by the surface underneath, evaporative cooling occurs when moisture is added to the air through evaporation, which forces the air temperature to cool to its wet-bulb temperature, or until it reaches saturation

11.
Barometer
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A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather, numerous measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis to help find surface troughs, high pressure systems and frontal boundaries. Barometers and pressure altimeters are essentially the same instrument, but used for different purposes, the main exception to this is ships at sea, which can use a barometer because their elevation does not change. Due to the presence of weather systems, aircraft altimeters may need to be adjusted as they fly between regions of varying normalized atmospheric pressure. On July 27,1630, Giovanni Battista Baliani wrote a letter to Galileo Galilei explaining an experiment he had made in which a siphon, led over a hill about twenty-one meters high, failed to work. This was a restatement of the theory of horror vacui, which dates to Aristotle, galileos ideas reached Rome in December 1638 in his Discorsi. Raffaele Magiotti and Gasparo Berti were excited by these ideas, Magiotti devised such an experiment, and sometime between 1639 and 1641, Berti carried it out. The bottom end of the tube was opened, and water that had been inside of it poured out into the basin. What was most important about this experiment was that the water had left a space above it in the tube which had no intermediate contact with air to fill it up. This seemed to suggest the possibility of a vacuum existing in the space above the water, Torricelli, a friend and student of Galileo, interpreted the results of the experiments in a novel way. He proposed that the weight of the atmosphere, not a force of the vacuum. It was traditionally thought that the air did not have weight, that is. Even Galileo had accepted the weightlessness of air as a simple truth, Torricelli questioned that assumption, and instead proposed that air had weight and that it was the latter which held up the column of water. He thought that the level the water stayed at was reflective of the force of the airs weight pushing on it. In other words, he viewed the barometer as a balance, an instrument for measurement and he needed to use a liquid that was heavier than water, and from his previous association and suggestions by Galileo, he deduced by using mercury, a shorter tube could be used. With mercury, which is about 14 times heavier than water, Pascal further devised an experiment to test the Aristotelian proposition that it was vapors from the liquid that filled the space in a barometer. His experiment compared water with wine, and since the latter was considered more spiritous, Pascal performed the experiment publicly, inviting the Aristotelians to predict the outcome beforehand. The Aristotelians predicted the wine would stand lower, however, Pascal went even further to test the mechanical theory

12.
Steamship
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A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically drive propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships came into usage during the early 1800s, however. Steamships usually use the designations of PS for paddle steamer or SS for screw steamer. As paddle steamers became less common, SS is assumed by many to stand for steam ship, Ships powered by internal combustion engines use a prefix such as MV for motor vessel, so it is not correct to use SS for most modern vessels. The steamship was preceded by smaller vessels designed for insular transportation, once the technology of steam was mastered at this level, steam engines were mounted on larger, and eventually, ocean-going vessels. Becoming reliable, and propelled by screw rather than paddlewheels, the changed the design of ships for faster. Paddlewheels as the main motive source became standard on these early vessels and it was an effective means of propulsion under ideal conditions but otherwise had serious drawbacks. Within a few decades of the development of the river and canal steamboat, the first sea-going steamboat was Richard Wrights first steamboat Experiment, an ex-French lugger, she steamed from Leeds to Yarmouth in July 1813. She carried passengers and freight to Paris in 1822 at an speed of 8 knots. The American ship SS Savannah first crossed the Atlantic Ocean, another claimant is the Canadian ship SS Royal William in 1833. The SS Archimedes, built in Britain in 1839 by Francis Pettit Smith, was the worlds first steamship to be driven by a screw propeller. It had considerable influence on development, encouraging the adoption of screw propulsion by the Royal Navy. The key innovation that made ocean-going steamers viable was the change from the paddle-wheel to the screw-propeller as the mechanism of propulsion and these steamships quickly became more popular, because the propellers efficiency was consistent regardless of the depth at which it operated. Being smaller in size and mass and being submerged, it was also far less prone to damage. The development of screw propulsion relied on the technological innovations. Steam engines had to be designed with the power delivered at the bottom of the machinery, a paddle steamers engines drive a shaft that is positioned above the waterline, with the cylinders positioned below the shaft. SS Great Britain used chain drive to power from a paddlers engine to the propeller shaft - the result of a late design change to propeller propulsion. An effective stern tube and associated bearings were required, the stern tube contains the propeller shaft where it passes through the hull structure

Map of the cumulative tracks of all tropical cyclones during the 1985–2005 time period. The Pacific Ocean west of the International Date Line sees more tropical cyclones than any other basin, while there is almost no activity in the southern hemisphere between Africa and 160˚W.

A tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma. The funnel is the thin tube reaching from the cloud to the ground. The lower part of this tornado is surrounded by a translucent dust cloud, kicked up by the tornado's strong winds at the surface. The wind of the tornado has a much wider radius than the funnel itself.